Post awards, applause and all acclaim Richa Chaddha is turning a whole new leaf, in a whole new avatar. Read all about her CABARET experience as Shubarna Mukerji Shu shares excerpts…
It has been a very successful year, from accumulating awards to now shouldering a film singularly on your shoulder…
I might be the face on the poster, but I don’t think I am shouldering this film singularly on my shoulder. At the end of the day it is a Bhatt film, the reason I am doing it is because it is a Bhatt film. I don’t think I would have been convinced to do it if it hadn’t been for someone like Pooja Bhatt who is known for her aesthetics backing the project. For me I see this film as a leap of faith, it is all about trying something new for me and for them.
Before I signed the film I know that they were other actors, more commercial, bigger stars. Basically signing me for the film was risk and I thought heck, let’s take this risk together.
Weren’t you worried about changing your image so drastically… there might have been many who told you it might not be wise?
If I had listened to people’s advice I would not have been here. I would not have made a single film and that’s the truth. Believe me when I signed MASAAN, people everywhere around me were telling me not to do the film, it doesn’t even have songs, the set up is too new etc… when I signed up CABARET people were not it is too drastic a change, people said don’t go from salwar kameez to straight into cabaret clothes etc…
“Advices” from well-wishers might be really the most confusing thing ever…
See it has only been four years since I have been thrust into this whole film industry. I don’t have any uncles, aunts or boyfriends here who would be guiding me around, so I have learnt to rely on my gut and my instincts. Of course there are some filmmakers and producers I look up to, and go to them for opinions because I feel they are genuine but that’s that. Agar mein logon ki advice sunti I would have never agreed to play Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s mother in GANGS OF WASSEYPUR, I was only 23 then.
Seriously the way you have gone through your career thus far, you really need a pat on your back…
The only reason I should pat my back is that I have managed to stay sane through these years. I haven’t gone crazy or done something crazy to my lips, my hair, and my body.
It is very easy though, in the world of glamour to get insecure about yourself… when you are playing role like yours in CABARET, did you suddenly have to face a different side of you?
This film has certainly ensured that I get out of my comfort zone. It is not easy to suddenly change that image but yes, playing this character I have become a lot more comfortable with my ….
Body?
No, sexuality! Body toh changes, it is coming to terms with your sexuality that has to come from within. It is only after I did CABARET, that I kind of found myself agreeing to do a bikini shoot for a magazine. My character is really an empowered woman. What makes her empowered is that she is not using her sexuality to get ahead in life. She is on the run and being a dancer serves her purpose, but every time she feels threatened she does something that puts her in a larger risk however she is not afraid to do so… that is what makes her empowered.
I believe the best part of being a part of CABARET, the whole experience with the Bhatt’s was that I never once felt exploited. It would have been easy to cross that line but they consciously didn’t.
